The Balancing Act — What Are Your Children Doing Now?By Admin

June 17, 2010

Many of you are in the same situation I’m in…………. school’s out andyour children are at home for the summer. But what are they doing?? While you’re at work you don’t want to be worried about what your children are doing at home because they are totally bored.

When summer comes around, your children want to completely forget about school. Do they need a break? Sure. Should they not do anything educational at all, all summer? No? Kids need to keep their brains moving…not just with TV or videogames.

Your children should always be encouraged to read. Reading can take your children on an adventure or teach them something new and interesting while keeping their skills sharp. Your local library will usually have some type of reading contest going on to help motivate your child and give them a goal to work toward fulfilling. I am also always on the lookout for websites that offer free educational worksheets. Give your children something to challenge them and keep their brain functional. Most of these websites will have the answer sheet for you as well so you don’t have to do homework as well. Make a check-off list and reward them for completing tasks.

Summer is a great break for your children, but it is also nice to know that they are spending some of their time doing something constructive. They need to play and have fun, but don’t forget that there is a way to sneak in some educational activity there too. That should help ease a little stress knowing that they aren’t spending the whole day eating everything in site and bouncing off the walls.

Great post Rachel. It is so very important to keep them mentally stimulated all summer long. Finding fun things to do to keep that happening is very hard. Great suggestion about the libraries but I heard by a co-worker that our local book stores such as Borders and Barnes and Noble have reading contests going on now too. And it’s not just the elementary children that need to brain food, middle and HS’er need it too.

We are shooting for the Great lakes Science Center or the Browns tickets! I think either would be a great prize! Thanks for the tip about the book stores! I’ll check it out. That’s just more incentive for your kids to read. And yes….kids of ALL ages need to keep their brains active.

You are so right about keeping them busy. A 5th grade teacher friend of mine used to give their children 3 challenges of which they had to choose 2 and complete by the time they went back to school. One was join a sport, another was an academic like reading 3 books. And the last one was usually geared toward childs interest. As it turned out not only was it fun for them it became educational in one way or another such as sports taught them teamwork. Both of these kids are now honor students, one at Akron U and the other at Ohio State and a total pleasure to be around.